Morning Brief: Summits and suds

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Good morning to you.

Well, today’s the day for what CNN is calling the most surreal U.S.-Russia summit in history. It’s hard to argue with that assessment. All eyes will be on Helsinki today, as the meeting between President Donald Trump and President Vladimir Putin gets underway against a backdrop of Russians being indicted on charges of meddling in the election that saw Trump elected, and as Trump continues to blast long time allies. The latest came over the weekend when he called the European Union a ‘foe.’

Rep. Adam Schiff of California, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, is probably wondering why bother. Yesterday, he called Putin “essentially an unindicted co-conspirator” in Russia’s election meddling. “And not just any co-conspirator,” he said. “He’s the ringmaster of this conspiracy, and he’s going to be sitting down at the table with Donald Trump.”

Still with the CBS interview, Trump was very much trying to temper expectations, by insisting he’s keeping his low. Asked about his goals for the meeting, he said only, “I’ll let you know after the meeting,” promising “nothing bad” is going to come out of the leaders’ discussion.

Closer to home, is it summer shuffle time? The speculation is ramping up ahead of an anticipated cabinet shuffle that appears to be set for Wednesday. As our Kady O’Malley notes, there haven’t been quite as many rumours swirling around as would usually accompany a shuffle, but there have been rumblings that Finance Minister Bill Morneau, Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland, Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna and Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodaleare all expected to stay put. Word is Heritage Minister Melanie Joly and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Dominic LeBlanc will be given new positions within the cabinet.

As CP reports, she walked out of the meeting after a testy exchange with federal Immigration Minister Ahmed Hussen, who later publicly accused Ontario of fear-mongering on asylum seekers. She called his comments “mean-spirited” and demanded an apology. At today’s emergency meeting of the House of Commons immigration committee, opposition members will try to put some political pressure on the government by urging their Liberal counterparts to examine the problem, as well as the pressure it is putting on provinces.

In the midst of a messy political crisis at home over Britain’s impending exit from the European Union, Prime Minister Theresa May revealed Sunday that Trump gave her this piece of advice: Sue the EU, don’t negotiate. Trump told reporters on Friday that he had given May advice about how to deal with the EU that she found too “brutal.” Asked in a BBC interview yesterday what that was, May responded with an amused expression: “He told me I should sue the EU. Not go into negotiation, sue them.” With a laugh, she added: “Actually, no. We’re going into negotiations with them.” AP reports.

Here’s a question: What about Edward Snowden? Trump has called for the fugitive NSA leaker’s execution and once guaranteed that Putin would hand him over. But there’s no sign that Trump is pressing the issue. Politico has more.

FINALLY

Finally today, because “a couple of good beers can help any negotiations,” a Finnish craft brewery has brewed up a batch of ‘Making Lager Great Again’ to help things along today – and to poke some sudsy fun at the summit in the process.

On that note, cheers to a good Monday – and settling things like adults.